Down Under

I just spent 16 awesome days in Australia and New Zealand. If I had one word to describe my trip it would be EPIC!
If you know me or have ever checked out my flickr account, you will know I enjoy hiking. On this trip, I was able to get in 6 memorable hikes one of them being the most challenging and rewarding hike I have ever done.
Let's start with the Royal National Park in Australia. If you like waterfalls then Uloola Falls is the place to be. You start on the Karloo Track for 2 km, cross the Karloo Pools and venture up 2.5 km to the falls.

When I arrived at Uloola Falls, I thought I would arrive at the bottom of the falls, but you in fact arrive at the top. After a scramble down some very large rocks you come into full view of the falls and my jaw just dropped.

You can spend a lot of time soaking it all in here, but if you go back up and trek a little further you will come across another amazing waterfall site that is smaller and a perfect place to stop for lunch.

A Little Green in Your Life

I started creating these several years ago and the love continues. I will never tire of air plants and succulents. Here's a share of several I have made for gifts. If you would like one for a fee and are local to the Seattle Tacoma area I would be happy to make one for you.

Craft time is in session

Met up with my crafty girlfriends for too much food, laughter and card making. I've been really kicking myself lately because I do enjoy the process of making stuff especially birthday cards and it's just something that I have put on the back burner. I also have 20 years of collecting paper and embellishments so the desire to use up my stash weighs on my mind. I found this bag full of Heidi Swapp flowers in every color and in every size she designed. If you know me, you know that I am a huge Heidi fan. So my goal was to use as many flowers as I could on a card and you know what....I really like how they turned out. I like to call them my fluffy cards :)

So here is where I just started to put them down and play around

And these are the finished cards including one for my grandpa who turned 94.

Feels really good to have a nice stash on hand. Now I am feeling inspired to craft on!

Celebrate 94!

My sister and I had the pleasure of visiting my grandpa on his 94th birthday. Still looking good after all these years. He still drives around town to his favorite joints to eat and rides his lawn mower to cut his grass and the grass at the cemetary. There is no quit in us Wileys!

First Hike in March - Snow Bowl Hut

On March 4th, I made the return trip back to Ashford, WA to hike Bruni's Snow Bowl Hut. Unfortunately for me, my left hip/groin area started to ache on the way up making it a slow go for me. I pushed on and was rewarded with such a beautiful view at the top.

Me in the chain gang pulling up the rear.

Me starting to fall back from my hip pain.

Such an incredibly beautful day. Thank you Jesus!

The snow was so fluffy all I wanted to do was fall in it.

Once you make it to the prayer flags you have hiked most of the elevation gain. Such a pretty site.

There's Snow Bowl Hut in the distance. Almost there!

Dave hauled a sled up and let us sled down too. If I didn't have my pack on or his gear in the sled I would have had a much easier time staying upright, ha! Fell over twice, but had so much fun. I love sledding!

Let's Go High - Off to High Hut

I didn't hike as much as I'd liked in February because after driving into a snow ditch for the attempt to hike Copper Creek Hut I got really sick. My body was just spent and being horizontal was the only place I could go. Thankfully, it passed 2 weeks later and I had enough energy to hike High Hut on February 25. Hiking to the huts are fun because 1. when you reach your destination you get to go inside and eat lunch in a warm building and 2. there are toilets. So not the case on most hikes!
My goal was to hike all 4 huts and so far I am 2 out of 4. There's Copper Creek Hut, High Hut, Snow Bowl Hut and the Yurt which are all part of the Mt. Tahoma Trails Association.

If you get a chance on a clear sunny winter day check out the huts. It's definitely a rewarding hike!

3 months in Photos

Hello all!
I kinda let the blog fall by the way side, but I have been uploading photos to Instagram. Love Instagram!
So here are some photos from the past 3 months.

Selfie Taken on Thanksgiving Day.

 Thanksgiving with the family. That's me and my sister, the queen of Connect Four.

Day after Thanksgiving I opted to go into the backcountry and hike to Summit Lake. You wouldn't believe how silent it was out here. No black Friday commotion.

December 2016 Christmas gathering with my Chicas - Victoria, Wendy, Adora and me.

I took a week of vacation after Christmas and had a blast with Linda's family sledding at Hyak Sno Park. Thank you Dina for the photo. That's me, Donnie, Tony and Autumn. Tony celebrated his birthday that day too!

 Last hike of 2016 to Snoquera Falls. 12/31/16

I had so much fun at Hyak Sno Park I wanted to trying Tubing -Summit at Snoqualmie.

 They provide the tube and plentiful groomed lanes.

Couldn't have asked for a better sunny day tubing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest!